Irrigation-ditch cleaner.



H. M. QUINCEY, F. J. SIENKNECHT L M.1.DONAHO0.

IRRIGATIUN DITCH CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27. i917.'

1,245,271 Patend Nov.. 6, 1917.

2 sHETs-SHEET 1.

H. M. QUINCEY, F. J. SIENKNECHT & M. J. DONAHOO.

IRRIGATION DITCH CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAII. 21. 1917.

Patented Nw. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHET 2.

H00 I @ya UNITED sraTEs PATENT oEEicE.

HENRY M. QUINCEY, or Los ANGELES-[FREDERICK J. sIEivKNEcHT, 0E NOEDHOEE,

AND MICHAEL 'J DONAHOO, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

IRRIGATION-BITCH CLEANER.

Specification-of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. c, 1917.

Appiieaaon med Marcher, 1917. serial No. 157,663.

To all whom t may concern:

Bc it known that we, HENRY'MERRIAM QUrNcEY, FREDERICK J. SIENKNECHT, and MICHAEL J. DoNAHoo, the 'lirst a subject.- of tlieliijig of Great Britain and the two latter citizens of 'the United States, residing at Los Angeles, Nordhof, and Los Angeles, respectively, in the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Los Angeles, respectively, vand State ofCalifor-nia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Irrigation-Ditch Cleaners, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to excavating machinery and particularly pertains to a machine for cleaning irrigation ditches and the like. D D

In the parts of the country where it is necessary-to irrigate the agricultural lands, ditches are formed to carry water to the different districts. These ditches are usually formed with earth walls and it is very4 veasy for `vegetation of if'arious sorts to kgrow in the ditch and also for the side banks to Agradually iillthe channel.' Ordinarily such ditches must be cleaned manually at given Ape'riodsand this, of course, requires considerabletiine -andimuch expense.' It is the principal object of this invention tovzprovide a mechanically operated ditch cleaning machine wliich will rapidly and inexpensively clean the `ditch ofvegetation andrebuild'- its banks.

Another'obj ect ofthisI invention .is to provide means whereby 'the soil carried from the tditch will be directly delivered tothe lopposite sides thereof in a manner to Aintive of Vthe quantity of water therein and which is further provided with means for maintaining the machine in a horizontally alined position.

Another object of this invention isrto provvide means whereby the machine may be steered as it is drawn along the ditch..

Itis a further Object of thisy invention to provide a device of the above class which embodies a power plant, and excavating e means mounted 1n a single unit and adapted tobe driven and controlled in a simple man- @ther objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying "drawings in which:

Figure l is a view in plan illustrating the entire device with parts broken away for thesake of convenience.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation illustrating the machine and particularly disclosing kthe power plant and the steering means.

Fig. B is a-view in end lelevation'illustrating in a diagrammaticalmanner the operation of the device.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l0 indicates the body of the machine. This body is Apreferably formed of sheet metal and in reality is a boat or skid, having end' vwalls ll and l2 and a continuous bottcm closed by the end walls. The bottom of the skid is substantially the shape 0f the ditch and is here shown as having its sides inclined at an angle to the vertical of approximately sixtyfdegrees. ln case there is sufficient water infthe ditch the machine will lioat, 'orpartially float, and if the water is too low to float lthe machine'it maybe slid along the vditch as it rests upon its smooth sides. The shape of the AVbody serves to restoreA the ditch toits desired shape. Mount- .ed at the forwardend of the body is a" pair of conveyers' 13 andi/l. These elements are each formed of af pair of sprocket chains l5 and 1G which are led overshafts Hand 18. The shaftsV 1S are positioned at 'the bottom shafts 17' are supported by suitable framework above and at. the'opposite sides of the body, as particularlyl shown inllig. 3 ofthe drawings. ,Mounted beneath.A the chains 'are of the body and parallel to each other.` *The inclined floors'lQ andQO which correspond i in their angular disposition to the side Vwalls of thevbody and also liey substantiallyjparallel to the chains which passover them. The shape of these floors in cross-section, combined with the shape of the body inA cross-section servesy to give a corresponding and desired shape to the ditch and its banks. The forward edges lof these oors are beveled, as indicated by the numerals ,22 and 23 of Fig. l. This permits the sides of the :ditch to be cleaned away and scraped as the `machineis drawn forward by means of a cableQll secured at the forward end of the machine. As 'the machine is drawn forward,

the soil cut and loosened by the beveled edges of the floor members 19 and 2O will be carried on to this floor and elevated by elevating flights Z5 which are secured at their opposite ends between the sprocket chains 15 and 16 and are adapted to move there with.

The 'sprocket chains aresimultaneously driven by a power plant Q6 which is here shown as an internal combustion engine. This engine is mounted upon the machine body at its rear end and drives the conveyer mechanism by a suitable transmission. The driving transmission comprises a driving gear "27 directly connected to the crank shaft of the engine, a driven gear 28 in mesh therewith, and a transmission shaft 29. The gear 28 is mounted upon this shaft and rotates it to transmit power to a pair of parallel drive shafts 30 and 31 mounted at the forward end of the machine body. These shafts are fitted with sprockets 32 and 33 which in turn drive chains 34 and 35, by which the conveyer chains 15 and 16 are driven upon rotation of the shafts 17.

As a means for holding` the conveyer chains taut, a pair of idler shafts 36 and 37 are provided. These shafts are pivotally supported at one end upon bearings 38 and 39 which are formed integral with swinging arms 4:0 and 41 loosely mounted upon the shafts 30 and 31. The outer ends of the idler shafts are secured to each other by brackets i12 and 48 which are adjustably connected by a turn-buckle 44. Rotatably mounted upon the shafts 36 and 37 are pairs of sprockets 45 and 46 which are engaged by the upper lengths of the conveyer chains 15 and 16 and support said chains in a firm manner.

In order to insure that the conveyers will bear the same or a desired angular relation to the vertical, a pair of stabilizer plates 47 and 48 are provided. These plates are pivotally mounted at the opposite sides of the body of the machine upon brackets 19 and 50, respectively, and extend outwardly and upwardly and are adapted to bear upon the new formed banks as the machine moves forwardly. Before start-ing, the stabilizers bear upon the old banks and are adjusted to start the work at the desired angle. Supporting arms 51 extend upwardly from each of the plates and are connected with pitman rods 52, the opposite ends of which are pivotally secured to crank arms 53 and 54. These arms are mounted to rotate withshafts Y 55 and 56, respectively, by which thevertical adjustment of the plates is simultaneously obtained. An adjusting wheel 57 is provided to actuate each of these shafts.,V

To insure that the machine will readily move along the ditch, it is provided with a prow 58. This prow is formed with sides which vertically and horizontally taper from the bottom and center of the machine and which form a bottom cutting and separating member adapted to force its way into the soil at the bottom of the ditch and more readily travel therealong. Acting in coinbination with this prow is a rudder 59 by which the prow is directly guided and the direction of movement of the machine is determined. The rudder is pivoted for horizontal movement upon a vertical shaft 60. The rotation of this shaft is controlled by a steering wheel 61. ed at the end of a steering shaft 62 which rotates a worm gear 63 in mesh with a worm wheel 64 fixed at the upper end of the vertical shaft 60. j

ln operation, the machine is placed with in an irrigation ditch to be cleaned and the cable 24 at its forward end connected with a suitable mechanism by which it is wound. The machine will rest with the smooth sides of the body member supported by the walls of the ditch and as the cable 24C is wound the entire device will advance along the ditch. The prow 58 will rest upon the bottom of the ditch and tend to form a furrow thereal-ong. Simultaneously, the beveled edges i2 and 23 of the angular floor members 19 and 2O will cut into the sides of the ditch and cause the soil to pass over on to these floors. This soil will be elevated by the conveyer bars 25 and will be dragged along the floors until openings 65 and 66 have been reached at the top of these inclined floors. It is evident that at these points the soil will be scraped from the floor and will fall through the openings at the sides of the ditch, thus rebuilding the ditch and its banks and increasing its depth, as particularly shown in Fig-.3' of the drawings. During the operation of the device the stabilizer plates 47 and 48 will be raised or lowered as the case may be to insure that the mechanism will be in proper alinement and will act to cut straight ditch walls of equal angles..v In case a change in the course of travel is contemplated, the steering wheel 61 may be rotated and this in turn will swing the rudder 59. in a manner to divert the prow of the machine from its original course of travel.l l v Thus we have produced a ditch cleaner, the leading features of which are a body in the form of a boat and adapted to be drawn along a ditch and restore it to the desired shape, a prow extending forwardly from the body and having a bottom cutting edge and a vertical center cutting edge, arudder under the prow for Vdirectly guiding the prow and body, side cutters extending upwardly and ,outwardly in front of the body, floors behind the side cutters for shaping the banks of the ditch, means for scraping the loose material upwardly and outwardly lover the floors, and adjustable stabilizers The wheel 61 is mountp massaal for guiding and holding the body in a desired upright position.

It will thus be seen that the device here disclosed will act in a positive and eective manner to rapidly clean and rebuild irrigation ditches and the like and that the results here described will be attained entirely by mechanical operation.

I/Vhile we have shown the preferred construction of our irrigation ditch cleaner as now known to us, it will be understood that various changes in the combination, construction, and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of our invention.

IVe claim:

l. In a ditch cleaner, a body in the form of a boat, a prow extending forwardly from the body and having a bottom cutting edge and a vertical center' cutting edge, a rudder under the prow for directly guiding the prow and body, side cutters extending upwardly and outwardly in front of the body, floors behind the side cutters, and means for scraping loose material upwardly and outwardly over the iioors; the cross-sectional shape of the body and floors being adapted to produce the desired cross-sectional shape in a ditch.

2. In a ditch cleaner, a body in the form of a boat, a prow extending forwardly from the body and having a bottom cutting edge and a vertical center cutting edge, a rudder under the prow for directly guiding the prow and body, side cutters extending upwardly and outwardly in front of the body, iioors behind the side cutters, means for scraping loose material upwardly and out wardly over the floors; the cross-sectionalv the body and having a bottom cutting edge and a vertical center cutting edge, a rudder extending downwardly from the prow to travel in the earth and directly guiding the prow and body, side cutters extending upwardly and outwardly in front of the body, floors behind the side critters for shaping the banks of a ditch, means for scraping loose material upwardly and -outwardly over the floors, and adjustable stabilizers for guiding and holding the body in a desired upright position.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

HENRY M. QUINCEY.

FREDERICK J. SIENKNECHT.

MICHAEL J. DONAHOO.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

